It's official: Keith Yandle's ironman streak has finished at 989 games. The Flyers opted to scratch Yandle for Saturday's game against the Leafs. Flyers coach Mike Yeo cited the need to build for the future by giving younger defensemen more minutes. Given the Flyers' position in the standings, this is no doubt an unpopular decision, given how close Yandle is to 1000 consecutive games.

As a child, I can remember reading a Peter Puck book that included a chapter on onetime leading ironman Garry Unger. The story described how Unger played game after game after game until one day, the Atlanta Flames coach decided to bench him. Not healthy scratch him, but keep him on the bench the entire game. All he needed was one shift to keep the streak alive, but the coach didn't allow it. Can you imagine the squawking from Twitter if that happened today? Not just for how the ironman streak ended, but for the inefficiency of having a player stapled to the bench for the entire game. The coach probably had his reasons for not playing Unger, but what a way for the streak to end.

If not for the ironman streak, Yandle probably would have been healthy scratched a long time ago. His usefulness in fantasy leagues isn't even close to what it used to be (15 PTS in 67 GP this season). In addition, he's a league-worst minus-38 (come at me, plus-minus haters, for mentioning plus-minus again). I suppose it can't hurt that much to let Yandle try to get to the four-digit games played number. The truth is that even if he did, the streak will likely end by next season anyway. Yandle is on a one-year deal, so his NHL days could be numbered.

One other fact about Yandle: 10 of his 15 points this season have been on the power play. That's tied for the Flyers' team lead, which also gives you an idea of how abysmal the Flyers' season has been. If Yandle's NHL career is to continue past this season, it will have to be as a power-play specialist (the NHL's version of a designated hitter) and nothing more.

The one positive fantasy takeaway from this streak is how you knew that Yandle would be in your lineup day in and day out. No extended stretches on IR – not even a stint in COVID protocol. A low-maintenance player that you could set and forget in your roster during his prime.

Phil Kessel is now on watch with 968 consecutive games played and counting.

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Staying on the theme of Flyers defensemen, Ivan Provorov had not recorded a point in his last 11 games, and he had not scored a goal in his last 25 games. So what does he do on Saturday? Scores two goals and chips in an assist on the Flyers' other goal while taking six shots. If you're in a scoring league, you may have already moved on from Provorov. I've kept rolling with him in one league (with 6 D) because he leads my team in blocked shots. He's in the top 20 in that category league-wise, and the fact that he is also in the top 20 in icetime (24:49) helps him accumulate that peripheral stat when he's not scoring.  

Jack Campbell has returned to the Maple Leafs lineup, making his first start in nearly a month on Saturday. Campbell stopped 29 of 32 shots in backstopping the Leafs to a 6-3 win over the Flyers. Campbell's next start will be a real test, as he is projected to face one of either the Lightning or the Panthers in the state of Florida on Monday and Tuesday. It will be interesting to see if he has put his pre-injury struggles behind him. Leafs faithful are holding their breath on that one. You may want to take your time activating him from IR, as I am doing.

Morgan Rielly scored a goal and added two assists in the Toronto win. He has a four-game point streak in which he has nine points, including three goals. In case you were worried about Mark Giordano cutting into Rielly's value, that ain't happening.

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who put the bomp in the bomp bah bomp bah bomp

who put the rang in the yegor sharangovich

— Keeping Karlsson (@keepingkarlsson) March 3, 2021

Yegor Sharangovich recorded the first hat trick of his career, pushing him up to 19 goals on the season. Since February 1, he is practically a point-per-game player with 23 points (11 G, 12 A) over his last 24 games. The majority of Sharangovich's even-strength minutes have been with Jack Hughes, which is really rubbing off here. You could even say it was Hughes that put the rang in the Yegor Sharangovich.

Dougie Hamilton has been slumping with no points in his last four games and no goals in his last 12 games. In addition, Damon Severson is still on PP1 even with Hamilton's return from injury. Over the season, Severson is even showing a better scoring pace (0.58 PTS/GP) than Hamilton (0.56 PTS/GP). This is Hamilton's first season in New Jersey, and the assumption was that his value would decline a bit from Carolina. Yet the Devils have held up their end of the bargain with improved scoring. What about Dougie? The best contract doesn't always mean the best fit. It's also possible that he needs a season to acclimate himself with his new team, and that season has been interrupted by injury.

Player Compare: Hamilton/Severson

Hopefully you weren't starting Sergei Bobrovsky in an all-important fantasy playoff matchup. Bob coughed up six goals before receiving the mercy pull after two periods. He now has really bad starts in two of his last three games and a shutout in the other game. The volatility of goalies in 2022.

The Panthers got the last laugh in this game. Down 6-2, they clawed back, even scoring two goals while their net was empty before Gustav Forsling scored his second goal of the game to win in overtime. Forsling now has three goals and ten shots in his past two games following a string of 21 games when he didn't score a goal and recorded just four assists. His recent production spike is despite still no power-play time, even with Aaron Ekblad out of the lineup. Yes, the Panthers used a little bit of the five-forward power play again in this game.

Aleksander Barkov has two goals in back-to-back games and multiple points in each of his last three games. Only 10 players have a higher point-per-game average than Barkov.

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Nazem Kadri missed Saturday's game with an injury. According to Avalanche coach Jared Bednar, Kadri is expected to miss some time, but he is expected to be ready for the playoffs. That could put fantasy teams who were counting on Kadri in a real bind. Should you drop him in a single-season league? Probably not, since Kadri has emerged unexpectedly as a top-10 scorer this season (83 points in 65 games) and he could return before the end of your season. Although the Avalanche are secure in their playoff position, they are facing a real challenge with Gabriel Landeskog, Samuel Girard, and now Kadri sidelined. The plan might be for all of them to be ready for the playoffs, but you can never be too sure about that either.

Andre Burakovsky played 20 minutes on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen on Saturday. With an assist, Burakovsky has points in three of his last four games. In addition, he has taken four shots in back-to-back games. Burakovsky should be a strong play down the stretch if he stays on that line.

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Even though he has been centering David Pastrnak and Taylor Hall, Erik Haula hasn't been receiving much attention in fantasy leagues (9% Yahoo/24% Fantrax). Haula scored a pair of goals on Saturday, which gives him four goals and 10 points over his last six games. The Bruins have scored 23 goals over their last four games, which is creating additional scoring options beyond the usual names.

I was a bit surprised to see Jake DeBrusk's rostership level similar to Haula's (10% Yahoo/23% Fantrax). DeBrusk is on the Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron line, and he's had recent success with goals in four consecutive games. He's sure had his peaks and valleys this season, though. Just 15 points over his first 43 games, which I believe was when the report about the trade request surfaced. More recently, he had a stretch of seven goals and two assists in five games before just two points in 11 games. Now the current streak.

If I had to pick between DeBrusk and Haula, my initial take is to go with DeBrusk. Yet the season production of the two players is nearly identical, and the combined production of the linemates of each is very similar. DeBrusk's linemates are still a notch better production-wise, and he has LW/RW eligibility compared to C/LW for Haula. So I'll still lean toward DeBrusk.

Player Compare: DeBrusk/Haula 

By the way, Marchand has nine points over his last four games, including a goal and two assists on Saturday.

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Nick Ritchie was suspended one game for slashing Kevin Shattenkirk on Friday (video). I'm not saying that Ritchie didn't deserve the suspension, but the Ducks seemed a whole lot more steamed about Jay Beagle and what he did to Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry. And rightfully so. Scoring a goal that takes exceptional skill (like the Zegras lacrosse goal) shouldn't warrant a punch in the mouth later. Weak sauce analysis from Tyson Nash, where he makes excuses for unnecessary violence.  

"That's the problem with these young players. You wanna embarrass guys? You wanna skill it up? You better be prepared to get punched in the mouth."

Coyotes broadcast applauds Jay Beagle cross-checking Trevor Zegras/beating Troy Terry senseless. Embarrassing commentary pic.twitter.com/1AfenuTRkL

— Nolan Bianchi (@nolanbianchi) April 2, 2022

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With Matt Boldy out of the lineup, newly acquired Tyson Jost was moved up to Kevin Fiala's line. Jost recorded an assist, which was his first point in six games. So far he has yet to score a goal with the Wild with just two assists in nine games. Boldy is likely out today (Sunday), so Jost could be a sneaky short-term add in deeper leagues.

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Sean Monahan will have hip surgery, which will end his season. His production has plummeted over the last few seasons from over a point-per-game (82 PTS in 78 GP in 2018-19) to on the fourth line and even being healthy scratched this season. Monahan underwent surgery on his other hip after last season, which might be the main reason that he is not scoring the way he used to. Even though Monahan might be in better shape next season, the Flames have to be at least considering a buyout on his $6,375,000 contract (one year remaining after this one). 

On the post-game show for the Flames and Blues, Elliotte Friedman discussed the possibility of Jacob Markstrom being tired. He allowed four goals on 23 shots in a 6-4 loss, which qualifies as a really bad start. Markstrom has two really bad starts over his last four games after just two RBS over his first 50 games. Calgary is a lock to make the playoffs, so I wonder if Marky rests a bit more than normal down the stretch. The Flames have three more back-to-back sets of games this season. Regardless, your star player resting for the real playoffs while you're trying to win your fantasy playoffs is a scenario that we all dread. This can have a real "final week of fantasy football" vibe to it, if you can relate.

Robert Thomas extended his point streak to five games with a goal and an assist for the Blues. Thomas also has goals in three consecutive games as well as multiple points in four of his last five games. He's a near point-per-game player (57 points in 58 games), so I'm kind of surprised that he's rostered in only 31 percent of Yahoo leagues. It may have to do with the fact that he has missed nine games.

Since his callup, Nathan Walker has seven goals (but just one assist) in 16 games.

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Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.